Carol Vorderman attacks media's 'obesession with beauty'

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Television presenter Carol Vorderman criticised celebrity culture for idolising beauty as she appeared alongside her brother, who was born with a cleft lip, at a talk about the disfigurement.

Vorderman, 48, said life is harder for people with facial disfigurements because of the national obsession with beauty.

She appeared at the Cheltenham Science Festival last Saturday with her older brother Anton, who was born with a double cleft lip.

They took part in a discussion group called Facing Disfigurement at Cheltenham Town Hall.

Vorderman, who is patron of the Cleft Lip and Palate Association, said that television, in particular, could make a difference to the public's perception of facial disfigurement.

She said: "There are the serious documentaries which are very good and there are programmes which treat serious illnesses as entertainment, as freaky people.

"If there could be a character in say, Coronation Street, which is watched by millions and they had a visible difference, but it was no big deal, then it would make such a difference."

Before the event she told the Gloucestershire Echo: "In the past 10 years, since the rise of the talentless celebrity, the media culture has become obsessed by people's appearance.

"It focuses on the tiniest things, for example a scar or something which you wouldn't even notice.
"It's ridiculous and has an impact on people who look different because of a condition that affects their face."

Anton is co-founder of the European Cleft Organisation, which works to support children born with cleft lips and palates in Eastern Europe.

He had an operation at the age of 25 to give him a better mouth shape.

"If I hadn't had that then I wouldn't be sitting here now on stage," he told the audience.

"I wouldn't even have been able to be in this room.

"The operations made me more confident but if a child is happy with how they are that's fine."

 

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